Nervous about long-term consequences

[ange117 93]

So I'm about halfway through the preop process for RNY and starting to hit my "oh god what am I getting myself into" phase.

As a 26 year old who has no health issues besides a high bmi and some mild reflux, I'm absolutely terrified that I'm going to trade my relative health for a lifetime of surgery-related deficiencies and complications. If I life to an average life expectancy of 78 years, that's 52 more years I'd be living with malabsorption and the potential consequences of that are really terrifying to me. I can't find ANY research that looks at outcomes beyond 15 years; I'd only be 43!

But at the same time, I'd love to lose the weight now BEFORE I end up with other issues, and my doctor seems to agree with that opinion. I feel like I need to be comfortable with both the good and bad possibilities before I can go through with this.

How did you guys reconcile these risks before your surgery, or better yet, if there are any long-term veterans around here, how has the bypass affected the rest of your health over the years? I could really use some positive stories to counteract the bad ones.

[James Marusek 5,244]

As a young adult, I started to gain weight. Part of this was working behind a desk (sedentary lifestyle) and part of this was due to my love of food, the flavor and taste of food especially sweets. As the years went by I was happy. But as I approached my 60's all these years of bad habits started to catch up to me. I developed high blood pressure, diabetes, sleep apnea, severe acid reflux and other problems. I tried to resort to diet and exercise but by this point my body no longer responded and instead of losing weight, I was still packing on more pounds. As I aged, so did my parents. My mom had diabetes which lead to a foot ulcer that never healed. This required constant care because she was always coming down with infections and these infections would reinfect her open wound in her foot. Because she was constantly on antibiotics her infections became antibiotic resistant. Unless we constantly monitored and applied medical therapy on her feet, these infections could quickly lead to a foot amputation. This showed me how I did not want to live the rest of my life. It was the motivation to fix my medical conditions permanently.

You are young and youth feel they are immortal. But as you age, the immortality wears away. So it is a quality of life issue. I am now 66 years old. I am 27 months post-op RNY surgery. I lost 44% of my weight and have kept it off. My medical conditions have gone into remission. My stamina (ability to perform physical labor) has improved to the level when I was in my 30's. Last year I moved 100,000 pounds of gravel by hand and 50,000 pounds of concrete landscaping blocks. This year I have done almost the same.

[ShrinkingButtercup 60]

I know how you feel, ange117. I'm freshly 30 and in a similar boat. Few health issues besides high BMI and pre-diabetes. Heck, I'm even halfway through the process.

Despite research, I figure I'll be pretty healthy for life. (At least when it comes to obesity related conditions) I'll always have this tool to help me find my way back if I slip. (Not that I plan to. Who plans to?)

I don't worry too much about the future though. I'm a one day at a time kind of person. My best suggestion is to take the same approach. We have a lot of time to be WLS patients. We'll figure it out. You are jumping into something that will change your life. God willing, it'll be for the best.

Since I'm a pre-op scrub, I don't have a personal experience but I can tell you about a family member who had surgery in the 80s and seems to be doing well today. I kinda hang on to that lady as inspiration.

[losing_the_band 133]

The way I look at it is this: Yeah, right now you're basically healthy, other than weight. The reality is, though, that isn't going to last. Even if you just consider the weight in and of itself, our bones and joints simply weren't meant to be under that kind of stress long-term. Even if you don't see the effect now, there's damage being done, slowly but surely.

Research has proven that once someone reaches morbid obesity, the likelihood that they will lose weight and keep it off long-term with just diet and exercise is less than 5%. I know we all like to think of ourselves as being exceptional, but we have to look at this with a bit of humility and admit the truth: in this, the vast majority of us are NOT exceptional, we simply are not going to be the exception to the rule. So basically, to put it bluntly, the only options are:

• stay morbidly obese and watch your body eventually start to fail
• attempt to be the exception to the rule and lose weight and keep it off long-term through diet and exercise, with a 95% chance of failure
• have WLS, not be diligent about taking care of your nutritional and physical needs, and causing major problems
• have WLS, monitor your health carefully, and be proactive about exercise and making sure that you're getting all the nutrients that your body needs to be healthy

[geronimo 52]

I'm 43 and I was worried a lot about long term consequences - what'll it be like when I'm 60, 75, 90?

The reality though is that I've been taking daily Vitamins for the past 40'ish years, and frankly I quite expected to take them for the rest of my life as-is. I'm also taking two blood pressure meds, a cholesterol med, other meds, and I sleep with a CPAP machine.

Once I get the surgery all the health related meds and devices will go away. The only thing left for me to take for life are the Vitamins, which I was going to do anyway, so I realized that that's a pointless issue for me to be worrying about.

Do you take vitamins now? If so, then you're life won't be any difference. If not, then it's an extremely small price to pay to not have early heart attacks, strokes, etc.

[Daisee68 2,493]

You know I have just started really thinking about this the last couple of days. I'm already 10 1/2 weeks out RNY so no going back now!! I am 47 and have been overweight my entire life (well since about age 11). I was started on cholesterol meds about 20 years ago and tried to get my weight under control then but never managed. Eventually I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes and turned out a few year later I have a thyroid disease called Graves which is actually an autoimmune disease which attacks thyroid and makes it overactive (not the traditional underactive you usually here about). I had finally started losing weight and wasn't doing anything special and was thrilled - until my heart started beating out of my chest and I didn't have muscle strength to walk from my car to the office. Anyway, I digress. My point is, yesterday I was thinking about how will someone in the nursing home when I am in my 80's know that I need Protein and Vitamins? And you know what I realized? It is no different than if I was diabetic and they had to know not to feed me a lot of sugar! It I'd a different lifetime diagnosis to live with but it is a healthier one. See all those Co-morbidities just get worse. Diabetes is a progressive disease. My blood sugars would have gotten worse and meds would have increased, so one way or the other I am destined to a lifetime of taking something - whether meds or vitamins. (I will take Synthroid the rest of my life as they ablated my thyroid with radiation so there is no thyroid function.). This is a very personal decision and no one can make it for you. I had thought about this surgery off and on for years. I tried WW which worked but not long term because I never dealt with the head issues. Perhaps there's part of my surgery experience has been being referred for psych evaluation. The therapist is someone I am still seeing and is the best tool I have. The smaller stomach keeps me from eating too much but the things the therapist is teaching me is what I hope will mean my final lifetime change.

[Sajijoma 1,324]

I wish I had gotten my bypass when I was in my early 20's I looked into it, but I totally didn't want to give up soda and my emotional comfort and like you, I didn't have any co morbidities and the idea of cutting up "perfectly good stomach and intestines" when my only problem was that I needed to lose weight seemed crazy! My family wasn't supportive so I was going to be doing it all on my own anyway so it seemed pointless. I wasn't going to make the permanent changes I needed to be successful because I didn't want to yet. Fast forward to today, I have really bad knees, my back is in constant pain, I'm over 150lbs heavier than I was back then, and I've nearly lost 2 babies from weight related complications during birth. I can't say this enough. Do it now before the other things set in. Diabetes will come. I don't have it yet, but I had gestational diabetes and lemme tell ya, I don't ever want to check my blood sugar that many times a day for the rest of my life! Do it now before you have regrets at my age (38). I can't get back my wasted years. I wish I could, but they are gone forever.

[SandyS 77]

It is scary to think about long term consequences. I am eight months post op and have lost 102 pounds with 30 more to go. My regret is I didn't have surgery years ago! I'll be 44 years old next month and I don't know how long I'll live but I know I won't die because I was morbidly obese. I had no issues before surgery except for a fatty liver which has resolved itself. Surgery and the unknown is the scariest thing in the world but taking this leap has been so rewarding.

[morgants90 0]

As a healthy young person you are less likely to have surgery-related complications (other than malabsorption). At least that's what I was told by the doctors who did my clearances. I am 25 and just had roux en y I think I made a great choice. I bounced back really quickly too, only 3 weeks out!